Needed: plastic basin, plastic cup or pitcher, korean italy towel (a viscose washcloth, less than $1), shampoo/soap/face wash (or 3 in one, whatever you use).
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Rinse yourself in water first.
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Fill up plastic basin with water. Sometimes I'll add flat beer to this part (beer is good for hair and skin). I use a basin that holds 2 gallon of water, but of course you can always use smaller or bigger basins.
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wash your face with cleanser, then rinse it in the plastic basin
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shampoo your hair, soap up your armpits and nether regions using water from the basin. Rinse your head with the pitcher over the basin to save the shampoo water.
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If you shampoo twice, you can leave your second shampoo in your hair, especially if you use medicated or dandruff shampoo, for this duration. Get the korean italy towel and begin exfoliating the rest of your body, using the shampoo water to rinse the towel when necessary. Start scrubbing from the top of your body to the bottom, until you reach your feet (it needs exfoliation too).
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Dump the basin water, which would be dirty with your body grime, and rinse your head and body from the showerhead.
This takes about 15 minutes for me for a thorough cleansing without the use of too much soap. I prefer washing my hair in a bowl as I feel it truly submerges my hair in water and cleans it more thoroughly than just using a showerhead. My antifungal dandruff shampoo is used on my head but also works a second job on my body instead of going down the drain. You'd be surprised at the cleaning power of a little bit of detergent (which modern shampoos and body washes are).
Korean italy towels can be used without soap (or minimal amount of soap), and can be reused for years. I vouch for it because of how durable and CHEAP it is. I throw my used korean italy towel with the rest of the laundry and it's good as new again, and it's not like it loses its abrasiveness. I had mine for over 7 years. It's very durable and time tested, been around since the 60's.
Also, this method uses a minimal amount of water, while getting the max use out of the water that you do use. We'd cut the amount of water we use if we used the Japanese bathing method.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
September 15, 2017 at 12:05PM
